Bryan Bertino has a talent for depicting the inexplicability of evil, first with “The Strangers,” and now with how a seemingly chaotic force of nature threatens to destroy a mother and daughter. What’s worse is that when we do meet the titular monster, it’s about to completely obliterate a relationship already on the cusp of falling to pieces. Director and writer Bertino succeeds in creating a creepy monster movie that also builds a compelling relationship that pulls us through the emotional wringer time and time again. Zoe Kazan and Ella Ballantine are an excellent pairing as Kathy and Lizzy, an estranged mother and daughter that are constantly at war with one another.
After facing a difficult life with two parents at each other’s throats, and then having to dote over her depressed mother, Lizzy is preparing to see her father as a means of re-connecting with him once again and getting back at Kathy. Kathy and Lizzy end up stranded on a rainy road, after accidentally hitting a stray animal. Events take a turn for the horrific when the stray animal attracts something even worse lurking deep in the woods. When Kathy and Lizzy watch their tow truck driver be viciously slaughtered by a predator from within the trees, they realize they have to figure out a way to find help, or fight tooth and nail against the force of nature.
Director Bertino keeps the monster shrouded in darkness for most of the film, making it more of metaphor for how the cruelty of life can, and often does, rip our worlds apart. Star Kazan and Ballantine are an added compliment to an already strongly written and tightly directed horror tale, injecting immense emotion and turmoil in two women who can barely comprehend what kind of heinous situation they’ve been dropped in to. “The Monster” garners some top notch monster and gore effects, along with a great setting that keeps our characters confined and closed in, despite being stranded among a wide open space.
“The Monster” is a richly conceived and heartfelt horror drama that turns a confrontation with a blood thirsty monster in to the ultimate test of love and loyalty for a disjointed and dysfunctional family. The Blu-Ray for “The Monster” comes with only a seven minute EPK for Bertino’s movie, sporting usual interviews, and glimpses at shooting. It does, however, offer a much clearer look at the monster since the movie keeps its details and gruesome face relatively obscured in the darkness.